Expanded-metal machine



J. MANOFSKY A EXPANDED METAL MACHINE Filed Dec. 8, 1922- 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Nov. 4 192.4.

J. MANOFSKY EXPANDED METAL MACHINE FiledDec. 8, 19L 2 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Nov. 4, 1924..-

NITED- STATES 1,514,297 PATENT OFF-ICE.

JOHN MANOFSKY, OF WARREN, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO THE YOUNGSTOWN PRESSED STEEL COMPANY, OF WARREN, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF OHIO.

EXPANDED-METAL MACHINE.

Application filed December a, 1922. Serial No. 605,612.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN MANorsKY, citizen of the United States, residing at Warren, in the county of Trumbull and State of Ohio, have invented a new'and useful Improvement in Expanded-Metal Machines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in metal expanding machines, and more particularly to machinw of the type wherein V a previously slitted blank is expanded by the deflection of the web portions between diagonal strands, for example, of the type 16 shown in the patent of L. E. Curtis, N 0.

796,402, granted August 1, 1905. The invention will be fully understood from the .following description of a specific embodiment thereof, illustrated in the accompanyin drawin s, in which- 'gure 1 IS an elevation of a machine embodylng the invention, partly broken away; Figure 2 is a broken elevation of the end ortion of one of the expander arms shown in Fig. 1;

Figure 3 is a sectional view on the line 3, 3 of Fig. 2; and

Figure 4 shows a partially expanded section of a blank produced upon the machine embodying the present invention.

In producing expanded metal lath upon machines of the type hereinbefore referred to, it has been found that the end portions of the ex anded metal tend to contract, withthe resu t that the sides of the expanded product, near its ends, have a decided inward curve and the end of the expanded metal lath, instead of being substantially straight, has a concave curvature. These deviations from straight sides and straight ends result in a serious loss in effective covering power of the lath, since the overlap allowed in laying the lath must take care of the inward curvature at the ends of the sides of the lath. It is one of the objects of the present invention to obviate these defects in the expanded metal lath as now produced and to produce a product having substantially straight sides and ends.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, the numeral 5 indicates a feeding device by which a previously slitted metal blank is fed to the expanding device, which in the embodiment illustrated, consists of e vertically and la e ally diver ent e pander arms 6 and 7. In Fig. 1 the ,ortion of the expander arm 7 adjacent the feeding device is broken away to show the means by which the blank is received and fed forward by the expander arms. The two expander arms 6 and 7 are substantially identical in construction, the parts being reversely arranged. In the drawing, the corresponding parts of the expander arms have been given identical numerals.

The previously slitted blank is fed by the feeding device 5 into the guides 8 of the expander arms and as it is'fed forward through the arms the portion of the blank between the expander arms is graduallgy expanded, the u'nexpanded portions held upon beds 9 and fed forward by means of the feeding rolls 10, 11, and-the sprin pressed plungers 12. The lower feed olIs 10, which pass through suitable openings formed in the bed 9 and the bed itself may be grooved if desired, the grooves in the bed and in the lower feed rolls corres nding to the groovmg of the slitted lank caused by slittin operation. The upper feed rolls 11 are l' wise spring-pressed into position by the springs 13. The width of the bed 9 gradually decreases to correspond with the decrease in width of the unex and ed portion of the blank. In the embodiment of the invention illustrated, at the end portion of the bed, the unexpanded portion of the blank is retained and carried along by means of 'a belt or chain 14 mounted to cooperate with a separately movable bed portion 15 held in position by the screws 16 and the springs 17 As shown in the drawings, the outer edge of this end portion of the bed or way I of the expander arm is provided with steps or shoulders 18, each of which corresponds to the termination of a groove of the bed. The detailed construction of the expander arm is more fully described in the patent issued to myself and another, No. 1,493,965, dated May 13, 1924.

At the end of the bed or way there is secured to the expander arm a plate 19 formed with a shoulder 20 extending parallel to the line of feed of the median portion of the expandin blank, this being substantially the same irection as the original line of feed of the slitted blank. The plate 19 is positioned so that the edge portion of the web, after the blank has been completely expanded, passes along the shoulder 20 and 7 from the upper portion of the plate 19 by somewhat more than the width of a strand. As the edge portion of the blank is expanded and passes over the end of the bed plate portion 15, it is held and guided along the shoulder 20 of the plate 19 by the retaining plate 21, with the result that the edge portion of the expanded metal is not permitted to be drawn inwardly, but is held in expanded position until the metal has permanently set in that position, even at the very ends of the blank.

In Fig. 4 is illustrated a partly expanded slitted blank which has been subjected to treatment in accordance with the present invention. The blank and the expanded portion thereof shown in Fig. 4 form a half of an expanded blank, out along the median line of travel through the device. The slitted blank ortion25 shows; clearly the gradually diminishing portion of the blank retained by the expander arm. It will be noted that the end of the expanded blank lies in substantially a straight line and that the edge portions 25", 25 likewise lie on asubstantially straight line perpendicular to the end of the expanded blank.

Although the present invention has been described in connection with the specific details of an embodiment thereof, it is not intended that these details shall be regarded as limitations upon the scope of the invention, except in so far as included in the accompanying claims.

I claim:

1. In a metal expanding device, means for expanding'a previously slitted blank by deflecting the strands thereof, and means for retaining the edge portion of the blank in position beyond the expanding means to permit the metal to set.

2. In a metal expanding machine, an expander arm, means for feeding a constantly diminishing portion of a previously slitted for holding the edge portion of the blank against lateral movement after expansion of the blank to permit the metal to set.

3. In a metal expanding machine, means for feeding the previously slitted metal blank longitudinally of the machine, an outwardly and upwardly divergent expander arm, means for guiding a constantly dimin ishing portion of said blank along said arm, means for deflecting over the edge of said arm the strands of said blank to effect expansion thereof, and means for guiding the edge portion of the expanded blank parallel to the line of travel of the blank through the machine for a period suliicient to permit the metal to set;

4. In a metal expanding machine, sheet feeding and expanding means including an arm diverging from the line of travel of the sheet, and means for guiding the outer edge of the expanded sheet parallel to the line of feed after leaving said arm.

5. In a metal expanding machine, an expander arm, means for feeding a constantly diminishing portion of a previously slitted metal blank along said arm, means for deflecting strands of said blank over the edge of said arm to expand the blank, a guide plate adapted to receive the edge portion of the expanded blank on leaving the arm and means for holding the edge portion of the blank in position thereupon.

; 6. In a metal expanding machine, sheet feeding and expanding means including an arm diverging from the line of travel of the sheet, a guide plate positioned to receive the edge portion of the expanded sheet after leaving said arm and a retaining plate overhanging the guide plate to retain the edge portion of the sheet thereupon.

7. In a metal expanding machine, sheet feeding and expanding means com rising a pair of arms diverging from the ine of travel of the sheet, guide plates respectively positioned to receive the edge portions of the expanded sheets after leaving said arms and retaining'plates overhanging the guide plates to retain the, edge portions of the sheets thereupon.

JOHN MANOFSKY. 

